Expediting Process of Debit Card Withdrawal

This is about using AlRajhi Visa debit card to withdraw from PalPal account in Malaysia.

On Oct. 16th I opened a savings account with AlRajhi Bank and obtained my Visa debit card. As a trial run, the next morning I withdrew US$10 from my PayPal account into my Visa debit card which will go into my savings account.

PayPal deducted US$5 as service fee and credited the remaining US$5 into my Visa debit card. I then received an email to that effect from PayPal.

However, since Oct. 17the until now I have been logging into my savings account on the Internet but seen no sign of money being credited in.

So, on Nov. 1st, that is today, after 16 days, I rang up the Customer Care Consultant at AlRajhi Bank to enquire. Apparently, the transfer process could take up to 30 days. It seems some people are lucky to have their transfer processed within two weeks, but others may have to wait up to 30 days for the managing bank (HSBC) in Hong Kong to process.

The Customer Care Consultant says AlRajhi Bank is negotiating for a faster processing time as a 30-day period is far too long to wait. She says there have been several such cases that she has come across. Well, let's hope the bank will succeed in speeding up the process.

Al Rajhi card tops for PayPal withdrawals in Malaysia

Looks like Malaysians now have a good avenue to withdraw money in their PayPal accounts (earned from Internet businesses like Affiliate Marketing, pay per post blogging, eBay auctions or other activities which receive payments through PayPal).

One very good way I happened to read about, is to use the free Visa debit card from Al Rajhi Bank which carries no annual fee and which can be obtained right on the spot in the bank within minutes.

You can add this debit card to your PayPal and then fill it with the money in your PayPal account before withdrawing money from an Al Rajhi Bank ATM or conveniently at the many Maybank ATMs throughout Malaysia. PayPal charges US$5 per withdrawal.

Al Rajhi Bank's debit card is excellent because it is a Visa card recognised by PayPal, it is free to obtain, there is no annual fee and it takes only a few minutes to obtain over the counter at the bank. See what Lillian Chan has written about this at Al Rajhi roxs, Public Bank suxs.

PayPal lifts ban on Malaysia

It's good news for online entrepreneurs in Malaysia. PayPal has lifted its ban on Malaysia and has allowed withdrawals from PayPal accounts through local banks' debit cards that are associated with Visa or MasterCard.

Since several years ago when there was a massive spate of credit card fraud linked to Malaysians, PayPal had disallowed withdrawals in Malaysia. So, for many years online entrepreneurs in Malaysia had a common problem of not being able to withdraw money directly from PayPal.

Many did it in indirect and roundabout ways, such as opening bank accounts in neighbouring Singapore, creating US investment checking bank accounts for their debit cards, or using online banks' virtual money debit cards recognised by PayPal.

Malaysians could do most of the transactions in PayPal except withdrawal because there was no provision that can direct money to local banks. So, the solution was third party debit cards.

However, now Malaysians can get local banks' debit cards associated with MasterCard or Visa, like NexG debit card issued by AmBank, which can be bought from Seven Eleven stores costing RM25 each.

So, it is excellent news for Internet marketers in Malaysia. Check up Matt Ng of http://InternetMoneyBlog.com who has written about this in detail.